427 (316 after inflation)

Jack’s statement “We have to go back!” carried some weight in this episode in a sort of tongue and cheek kind of way. We did go back, all the way back to the first episode. Once again Jack wakes up on the island wearing similar clothes that he had on in the pilot episode. We have the same scene of his eye opening looking up at the sky. The first thing I noticed was the difference in the reaction of the island to Jack being there. Remember how still the trees were when he woke up the first time on the island? Almost how people would be upon finding a stranger lying in their backyard, just standing over the body staring down at the new interloper. This time the trees are moving in the wind, almost dancing, (perhaps with joy) that at long last, Jack has returned. This time Jack is uninjured when he wakes up on the island and he doesn’t have any little bottles of vodka with him either. What he does have is a torn piece of paper with the words “I wish” written on it. He quickly drops the piece of paper when he hears Hurley calling for help off in the distance. Why does Hurley have a guitar case with him in the lagoon? Hurley continues to flail away as Jack tells him “We can stand.”. The two of them then see Kate lying on some rocks.



We are then taken back 46 hours earlier to the meeting at the church. They are lead underneath the church and there is yet another wheel to turn to open a huge blast type Dharma hatch door. We even get the squeaking hinge noise. How many times have we heard that sound? Inside there is a large Jerry Lewis telethon tote board of numbers turning like the numbers did inside the Swan hatch. The look on Ben’s face seems to say he hasn’t seen this place before. When Jack asks him if he knew about this place Ben says that he didn’t. Jack asks Ms. Hawking if he is telling the truth to which she responds “Probably not.”. She is trying to get the point across to Ben that this isn’t about him anymore. He even gets a look on his face as if to say “Damn, she just went and blew up my spot with the quickness and shit.” Eloise tells the group that this station was called the Lamp Post. I have more to say on that later. Jack sees a picture on the chalkboard taken by the U.S. Army dated September 23, 1954. Probably the same group of soldiers that Alpert tells Locke he tried to get to leave and then had to kill. But how did the picture get there? The blond girl Daniel explains what to do with the Jughead bomb may have been Eloise Hawkins and she took it with her when she made her way off of the island.

It is explained, rather quickly, that the Lamp Post was built by the Dharma initiative over a unique pocket of electromagnetic energy. It is connected to similar pockets all over the world. This is evidence that their could be other Dharma stations throughout the globe. Who is the “very clever fellow” that built the pendulum? Will we ever know? My early prediction is Marvin Candle or whatever name you want to know him as or possibly Alvar Hanso himself. The island is always moving, and that is why the survivors were never rescued. So the island wasn’t really cloaked or is that considered to be the cloaking? The equations tell where the island will be at a certain point in time. I need some clarification on this one; a point in time meaning it will be here at 1:30 tomorrow or it will be there March 18, 1982? My head is starting to hurt again. Desmond has had enough and berates Jack and the others for trying to go back willingly. He delivers his message from Daniel to Hawking. She tells Desmond that the island is not done with him yet. I heard a bit truth in Desmond’s words when he told Jack that they are all being used as pieces in a game being played. Desmond says he is done with the island and leaves. The episode title is explained as Hawking tells Jack that Ajira airlines flight 316 is the flight they will have to be on in order to go back to the island. That also connects us to the water bottle we saw in the pontoon boat a few episodes ago. Anybody now think Juliette was shooting at the people that are there to rescue them? They are told that they have to recreate the events that brought them to the island originally as best they can or the outcome could be unpredictable. Ms. Hawking then tells Jack after he asks her if that is all; “No Jack, that’s not all, at least not for you.”.

S gives Jack a letter that turns out to be Locke’s suicide note. Locke is going to be a proxy for Christian in order to help them get back to the island. Jack has to give something to John that belonged to his father. As Jack wavers, she tells him; “That is why it’s called a leap of faith.”, which recalls something Locke told Jack when he tried to convince him to push the button. Something Locke got from Helen outside of Cooper’s house. I have to give some credit to Sparky since he brought to my attention that you can spot a Virgin Mary statue, similar to the ones that Charlie had on the island filled with heroin, inside Hawking's office.

Meanwhile back in the church Ben is saying his prayers and lighting another candle. Ben tells Jack about Thomas the Apostle. “Doubting Thomas” as he was to be called was a direct comparison to Jack and his need to be convinced. Ben tells Jack that “We’re all convinced sooner or later.”. Ben leaves to go make good on a promise he made to an old friend. “A loose end that needs to be tied up.” he describes it.

Jack goes to a bar to have a drink and gets a phone call. At the bar Jack's face is split in half by blue and yellow light symbolizing his internal struggle to believe what Eloise has told him. The phone call is from an assisted living home where Jack is told “this is the fourth time he has tried to leave”. Jack goes to see his grandfather Ray, who likes to wonder away. Here is a scene that is used as a bridge in two ways. It is used to further convince Jack that nothing is a coincidence as he finds a pair of his father’s shoes in the suitcase his grandfather had packed. This will fill in as the item Jack needs to give to Locke. Jack tells his grandfather he is going to a place better than this. After Jack gets daddy a new pair of shoes, he goes home, grabs himself a bottle of something and hears a suspicious noise. Notice that Jack made two attempts to drink but neither time was he “allowed” to have the drink.

The noise turns out to be Kate. A very weird scene plays out between them as she tells Jack she is going with him back to the island. Jack asks where Aaron is and Kate warns him that he is never to ask her about Aaron again if he wants her to go with him. I’m hoping that she gave Aaron to Claire’s mum. I don’t want to think about any other theory especially the one that entails her killing him. She didn’t kill him, Kate’s not that horrible so stop it, jeez! Afterwards, a very uncomfortable make out session ensues. In the morning Jack and Kate make nice over some coffee and some orange juice. How does Kate like her coffee? With Sawyer, of course. Jack explains the pair of shoes to Kate and it gives us the second bridge that the shoes create. We know why Christian has on a pair of white tennis shoes when we see him on the island and later in Jack’s office off of the island. The phone rings and Kate leaves and tells Jack she will see him at the airport. Ben calls Jack and tells him he got a little sidetracked but fails to leave out the part where he got all messed up. Ben appears to be at a marina and why would he be there? Why, to kill Penny of course. If he did or not will surely be shown later but I got money on yes, he did kill Penny. That would be the inspiration Desmond would need to go back to the island. Do we see Desmond banging on Hawking’s church door in a future episode to get the bearings he will need to follow to get back to the island? Of course he will have to sail there in his boat if he is to recreate the set of circumstances that brought him to the island in the first place.

Back to the phone call, Ben tells Jack he will have to go to Simon’s Butcher Shop and get Locke’s body. Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of John Locke. John almost looks like he is smiling when Jack is putting Christian’s shoes on his feet. Jack tells Locke’s corpse that what he is doing is even crazier than he ever was. He gives John his suicide note back and tells him that he has heard everything he has to say. As he closes the coffin lid he tells Locke to "rest in peace", which I don't think Locke is ready to do, just yet.

A quick question, how long do you think all of this would have taken if we didn’t have an end date for the show? A lot longer than it has taken this season, that's for sure. At the airport Kate shows up very incognito. Remember she is not supposed to be leave the country as per her plea agreement. A new character, Caesar, gives Jack his condolences after Jack checks in at the airport. Jack says he is a friend of John Locke, remember he told the funeral director he was neither when asked if he was friend or family back at Hoffs-Drawler. Sun arrives next and together she and Jack see Sayid being escorted by a US Marshall. Hurley is reading a comic “Y: The Last Man” written by Brian K. Vaughan, a regular writer of LOST, the most recent episode being The Little Prince. Hurley has bought all of the remaining 78 seats on the plane in an attempt to not get any other people involved in the plan to go back to the island.

Watch the look of horror when Sayid sees Jack make his way onto the plane. Then watch him when he sees Ben getting on the plane. Sayid knows the deal. Hurley balks his displeasure when he sees Ben, who asks Hurley how he knew about the flight which is a good question. Since Hurley has a guitar case with him I am assuming that there is a guitar in it. I believe Hurley received a jail house visit from ghost Charlie who told Hurley that he has to go back to the island and it has to be on flight 316. The flight attendant gives Locke’s suicide letter back to Jack, I guess reading it is something Jack is supposed to do. Ben is still a cold hearted bastard when he asks Jack “Who care?” when Jack asks about the rest of the passengers on the flight. Jack makes his way up to Kate after the captain turns off the fasten seat belts sign. Kate makes us all believe that she is in fact going back for Sawyer when she tells Jack that just because they are all on the plane it doesn’t mean they are together. Guess Jack has made his last visit to Kate's playground.

"This is your Captain, Frank Lapidus." Wholly crap! Did you see that one coming? Nice detail the produces put in there because they didn‘t have to get Jeff Fahey to reprise his role but they went the extra mile and there he is. Frank gives us the episodes best line after he sees the rest of the group on the plane. “We’re not going to Guam, are we?” he asks Jack. Lapidus cleaned up his act and has been back to flying for 8 months.

Ben is seen reading Ulysses which has a hidden Easter egg for us. If you know anything about the book you know that the book is divided up into episodes. Episode 18 of the book is titled Penelope. Ben then delivers the episodes second and third best lines of the night. “My mother taught me.” he answers when Jack asks him how he can read. Which we know is a lie because his mother died giving birth. Of course I am not taking Ben at his word, he was saying just to be sarcastic so don’t go thinking that maybe Ben’s ghost mother taught him to read or maybe she did. The next line that got a chuckle out of me was “You tell me Jack, you’re the one that got to stay after school with Ms. Hawking.” One of the things Ben has been forced to do is give up his power. Once all knowing Ben is now forced to do whatever he is supposed to do without knowing beforehand. This is what he needs to do in order to be able to go back to the island. Ben tells Jack that he didn’t know Locke had killed himself. I think this is going to be shown as another lie. Ben does ease Jack’s mind however, by telling Jack that Locke’s suicide was not Jack’s fault. Ben gives Jack a moment to read the letter and it is one sentence long; “I wish you had believed me.”. Hmmm, I wonder if it was Jack’s fault after all.

OK, someone cue the turbulence. Right after Jack reads the letter, the plane starts to shake, another reason I won’t be flying again any time soon. I immediately thought “here comes another crash” then I thought that maybe Frank was going to find the partial runway the others had begun to build. Neither seems to be the case as they are suddenly hit with the white light and the sound of them being ripped through a hole in time like the group on the island have been experiencing. We are back to the beginning of the episode. Kate wonders where Sun, Sayid, and Ben are. Jack suggests they go look for them but they then hear an engine approaching. The engine turns out to be a new looking Dharma mini van and the driver exits the van armed with a gun. The driver is revealed to be Jin in a Dharma suit.

Let’s theorize a little bit shall we? The Lamp Post is yet another reference to The Chronic (what?) cles of Narnia. In the series, the siblings find a lamp post that guides them back to the fabled land. It is always lit and it lights their way back which is similar to how the station takes the O6 back to the island. The opening scene of the episode is a reference to the first chapter of Prince Caspian, the second book in the Narnia series. In the chapter, entitled The Island, the children in the book return to Narnia via a mysterious island with ancient ruins. The first thing they do is play in the water. It’s all in the details baby! The island wouldn’t accept them back until Jack read the letter. Why? Because Jack had to be released of his guilt. Or maybe because Sawyer was reading the letter he had wrote to the original Sawyer when 815 crashed? Ben, like Charlie went to the bathroom right before the plane crashed. Where are Ben, Sayid, and Sun? Quite possibly they were taken to the island but in a different time period.

We don’t know how much time has gone by since the left be-hinders last flashed but apparently it has been enough time for them to infiltrate the DI as evidenced by Jin wearing a jumpsuit. How awesome would it be to hear Jin speaking English very well the next time we hear him speak? He could have been spending time with a young Charlotte all the while teaching her Korean while she teaches him English. Aside from the obvious title connection to flight 316, in the bible, John 3:16 speaks about those that believe, something Jack needed to do. The guitar case Hurley takes onto the plane with him could be a proxy as well, taking the place of Charlie who brought his guitar case onto flight 815 with him. It was also the guitar case that helped save Hurley’s life as he is using it to help him stay afloat long enough for Jack to get to him. Sayid is handcuffed and being led onto the place by a federal Marshall (who along with Caesar are going to be new recurring character so I guess we can also ask where the two of them are) recreates Kate and the US Marshall that accompanied her onto 815. Ben probably played a part in Sayid being caught and arrested, but why are they going Guam?

Hurley brings a comic onto the flight to recreate the original comic he brought on 815 with him. Ben getting to the plane late recreates Hurley almost missing the original flight. Sun is seen nervously fidgeting with Jin’s wedding band like Rose was with Bernard’s on 815. There were 324 people on board flight 815 subtract the O6 and Walt and Michael who also made it off of the island and you get 316. Yeah, I'm probably reaching there. Jack is in row 8 on flight 316 which departed from gate 15. In regards to Christian's shoes, Kate asks Jack why he would hold on to something that made him feel sad. Oddly enough Kate held on to her toy airplane for years, even though it reminded her of Tom Brennan's death. One other note about Kate, seeing as how the O6 had to recreate the events of the first crash, where’s the pregnant girl? I’m wondering if Kate is pregnant with her and Jack’s baby. So in essence that would make her Claire. Think about Kate and Claire for a moment, Claire was going to LA from Australia to give away her baby. Kate is going back to the island after giving Aaron, Claire’s baby, away. Although she is definitely not six months pregnant like Claire was, perhaps she is six hours pregnant.

This season is proving to be the coolest, most fast-paced season yet. Maybe not the best season, but still excellent. This season has had me asking “What?”, yelling “Yes!”, and giving hi fives to anyone in the room. I look forward to the remaining episodes of the series with a smirk on my face, like the one on Jin’s face when he saw his three friends back on the island in the lagoon.